Negligence And Glitches Fuel Data Breaches More Than Attacks

Last updated Jun 9, 2013

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In recent days, we’ve seen headlines of high-stake cyberattacks on critical infrastructure around the globe. These media hype led many of us to believe that such data breaches are mainly caused by hackers (crackers, in actuality). A report by Symantec and Ponemon Institute breaks this misconception.

According to the eighth annual Ponemon Global Cost of a Data Breach study, majority of data breaches are caused by human negligence or error (35 percent) and system glitches (29 percent). Malicious attacks, however, remain the single highest cause of breaches, accounting for 37 percent of the security breaches.

The figures above vary in different countries. For example, in Germany, the split between attacks and negligence-errors are almost equal.

The study found the average per-record cost of data breaches around the world to be $136, an increase from last year’s $130. This also varies in different nations. In United States the average cost of such data breaches is $277, when in Germany it is $214.

The study also addressed the notion that personal employee devices at workplace increase the risk of data breach. “We had some cases that involved an employee-owned mobile device — BYOD — but there aren’t many of those,” Larry Ponemon, founder and chairman of the Ponemon Institute, said to PCWorld.

The report also recommended some steps to prevent data breaches.

Educate employees and train them on how to handle confidential information.

Use data loss prevention technology to find sensitive data and protect it from leaving your organization.